People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

[DrunkAndTiredInFLA]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

help4me, I LOVE your pic!! Glad to hear that you switched again. =) What was your titrating schedule? Did you decrease daily? Weekly? Bi-weekly? I was thinking that once I hit the switch, depending the dosage amount, I would stay there for about a week and then titrate down. Then stay at a lower dosage for "X" amount of time (a year perhaps) and then titrate completely off of baclofen. Just a thought. I would love to hear other stories about titrating off of baclofen. Thanks! =)

[Dosage0]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

I am at 240 and I am completely indifferent. I can go up a little higher I think and that might do me a bit of good as I still crack a beer or two nightly. I think this next week I will hit 260-270 and see if that makes any difference. Right now the tiredness feeling is a bit overwhelming -- at about 2pm (1400) until about 6pm (1800) I can go down for a nap at any time. This might be though because I never / very rarely get a full nights sleep. The one time I did sleep completely through the night I felt much better the next day. Right now I am just hoping my body can adjust to the higher levels over time. I do look at the gigantic pill bottle of 360 pills and wonder how much damage I am doing.

To the people who have said a lack of libido is bothering them (this is for the men only), I would strongly suggest Tong Kat Ali extract. Your body has a natural shut off of testosterone and when it hits that mark you stop producing. This root extract basically tricks your brain into continuing to produce natural testosterone past that point. This is much preferable than synthetic testosterone IMO because it will not cause atrophy in body parts where you do not want it as your brain will still shut off production at a certain level. I have tried all sorts of vendors and believe I have found the best one. PM me and I'll send you a link. It is a bit expensive, but the smaller doses do not work. I don't own the company or make any referral cash, this is just a subject I have done a lot of research on.

[DrunkAndTiredInFLA]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

Dosage, I have come to find out that on the nights that I don't drink; those are the nights when I actually get a good nights sleep. However, I still end up tired during the day. =(

[Bminor]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

anyone have any trouble as they get lower as far as weird side effects go? It seems like if I try to go much lower than 60 I start getting that anxious, jittery feeling that's eerily similar to alcohol withdrawal. I've just been trying to taper in 10mg increments and having a hell of a time getting any lower than 60mg. I went from 200 down to 80 with no issues whatsoever and did it very quickly. Now that I am at 60 I am starting to notice side effects. Insomnia is another one.

B.

[DrunkAndTiredInFLA]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

B, how quickly was quickly? This could be part of the problem. And how long were you indifferent before you decided to taper off?

[Bminor]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

I was indifferent for probably a year. I went from 200 down to 120 in a matter of a week and stayed there for awhile. Then I went to 80 for a few weeks and then just dropped to 60. It was all really rapid and I must admit with no particular regard for how fast I was tapering down. I had no side effects until I tried going below 60 mg per day by dropping it by 10mg down to 50.

[Dosage0]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

I think at 200 a week for a year to 60 mg might throw your body for a loop? I don't know.. just sounds like your body got really used to its daily dose.

[RudyB]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

yeah, that is fast, b, and i bet your body is reacting to the sudden lack of massive (muscle) relaxer pills. i hear that in france they recommend going down 10 mg a week or so, and, thanks to finally catching up on this awesome thread, i'm going to start that tonight. i've been indifferent at 140 (which is wild and wonderful, as i wasn't indifferent at 180) for about a month. i'm starting to feel tired again, and a little tingling in my hands, which i know to be bac related. i also worry that it will make me crazy. so i'm going to head down and see how i fare. much as it has essentially saved my life, i sure don't want to be on bac for the rest of it!

thanks for all the input on this very good topic, folks! it is very encouraging.

rudy b

[AllyB]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

It's nearly 4 weeks since I last posted. My husband is still at zero, still not drinking. About 2 and a half months now.

[Bminor]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

AllyB;1203276 wrote: It's nearly 4 weeks since I last posted. My husband is still at zero, still not drinking. About 2 and a half months now.

AllyB,

What was your husbands taper schedule like if you don't mind sharing with me?

Thanks,

B.

[bleep]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

Quite an interesting thread.

I always thought that my maintenance dose was higher than normal because I chose to carry on drinking immediately after reaching indifference. A while ago I stopped drinking entirely though, and thought to steadily reduce my dose from 270. For a change I did it cautiously and slowly, and this weekend, at 240, I was eager for a party. So, for me, it looks like I need to remain at a reasonable dose, unless I want to spend my life fighting off the urge to let loose.

Saying that though, it's early days. I would guess that in time, as the habit of getting slammed disappears entirely, the dose could probably come down with it. For now, reducing is not really an option.

[terryk]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

bleep;1204290 wrote: Quite an interesting thread.

I always thought that my maintenance dose was higher than normal because I chose to carry on drinking immediately after reaching indifference. A while ago I stopped drinking entirely though, and thought to steadily reduce my dose from 270. For a change I did it cautiously and slowly, and this weekend, at 240, I was eager for a party. So, for me, it looks like I need to remain at a reasonable dose, unless I want to spend my life fighting off the urge to let loose.

Saying that though, it's early days. I would guess that in time, as the habit of getting slammed disappears entirely, the dose could probably come down with it. For now, reducing is not really an option.

This is pretty much my experience exactly. I switched at 280, then went down very cautiously and slowly to 240. Every time I try and dip to 220, (after a few days) I get hints of cravings, and the real kicker - drinking/drunk dreams. At 220 I can still drink a couple and stop (because they are un-enjoyable), but the craving is just maddening. At 240 I completely forget about drinking. I had a beer the other night at a dinner party, and couldn't even go through with my plan to have a glass of wine with dinner. Soda water instead. A year and a month indifferent, but I'm not really counting. Hope it lasts, but anytime I have away from drowning in booze is a gift. Nice to see you around Bleep.

-tk

[DrunkAndTiredInFLA]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

I am confused. Some of you say that you hit indifference, yet you were still drinking. How can you call that indifference if you are still drinking? Just curious. =)

[terryk]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

DrunkAndTiredInFLA;1204993 wrote: I am confused. Some of you say that you hit indifference, yet you were still drinking. How can you call that indifference if you are still drinking? Just curious. =)

Every three or four weeks, I might have a beer or two. I could care less if it happened or if it didn't. It never makes me feel *good/buzzed*, but if I have more than 2-3 it makes me feel pretty bad (woozy,side-effect flushy, and sleep disturbances). So indifference for me is a combination of no cravings *and* a modulation of positive/negative effects of alcohol that prevent me from drinking too much. It takes more of an effort to make a drink happen then to just go ahead and have a club soda (which I'm now making by the 2-liter bottle with a 25lb CO2 tank! - Carbonating at Home with Improvised Equipment and Soda Fountains - ~$.05 a bottle and no lugging bottles home or empties filling up the recycle bin).

Sounds dangerous. Maybe it's a slippery slope.

Could be. So why do I do it? Most probably because I have such confidence in my indifference that I'm okay with testing it. In a way it reminds me of how powerful it really is, and sometimes it is a total aversion to alcohol. Dr. Ameisen, himself, conducted several self-tests and writes in his book (The End of My Addiction): "It was good to discover that with baclofen I could drink in a nondependent way, On the rare occasions since then, I have had a glass or two of champagne, or a vodka tonic or gin and tonic, at gatherings with friends. But given all the alcohol I inflicted on my body during my illness, I prefer not to drink."

Now I don't buy everything the guy says, and I DON'T WANT IMPLY THAT I THINK THAT IT'S DEFINITELY SAFE TO CONTINUE TO MODERATE ON BACLOFEN. Because I don't know at all. I would tend to agree that abstaining from alcohol on baclofen is the safer, more prudent option. I know a few bac modders here and a few bac abstainers and I value and respect both no matter which strategy they choose. Me - I'm just wingin' it (over a year now). If I'm not completely fed up with this forum when/if the shit hits the fan someday, you guys will be the first to know about it.

-tk

[bleep]

People who have tapered back to a low dosage?

Abstinence was never my goal when I started baclofen. "Normal" drinking was. When I hit indifference, I was determined to moderate, so much so that I didn't realise for a long time that I actually didn't want to drink anymore.

What baclofen has done is remove the obsession with booze, and made me realise that it actually doesn't taste that nice. From there it's a short and simple hop to abstinence. The big difference for me here is that it isn't a sacrifice anymore, it's a pleasure.

As to the safety or not of drinking, I can't say. I do know that when I continued to drink, the habit aspect was very powerful, and it would be easy to override the baclofen aspect. Full blown alcoholism would be difficult to get back to, the will to obliviate myself is completely gone, but really, why bother, I thought. Just take this gift and run with it, was my thinking, and I'm pleased beyond measure with the way it's turned out.

Good to see you too tk, hope it's going well...